1. Field
The present invention relates to a disk drive including a disk insertion detection unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Slot-loading disk drives are typically used in vehicles. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-135106 discloses a disk drive including two rotary arms arranged inside an opening through which a disk is inserted. The two rotary arms rotate independently of each other. One of the two rotary arms causes switching of a switch SW1 and switching of a switch SW2, and the other one of the two rotary arms causes switching of a switch SW3.
When a disk is inserted through the opening, the rim of the disk presses the two rotary arms, thus rotating the rotary arms. When the two rotary arms rotate and at least one of the switches SW2 and SW3 is switched on, a motor drive mechanism is activated to rotate transport rollers in a loading direction, so that the disk sandwiched between the transport rollers and opposing members is loaded or transported into the disk drive with a force generated by rotation of the transport rollers.
To eject or unload the disk from the disk drive, the disk is sandwiched between the transport rollers and the opposing members and the transport rollers are driven to rotate in an unloading direction, so that the disk is unloaded or transported out of the disk drive through the opening. During the unloading, the two rotary arms are pressed and rotated by the rim of the disk. When the switch SW1 is switched off, the motor is stopped, thus stopping the rotation of the transport rollers. The unloaded disk is held in such a manner that the leading part of the disk projects from the disk drive through the opening, the trailing part of the disk remains in the disk drive, and the trailing part is sandwiched between the transport rollers and the opposing members.
In this type of disk drive, it is preferred that when a disk is inserted through the opening, the transport rollers should start to rotate in the loading direction before the disk comes into contact with the transport rollers. Consequently, the disk inserted while being held by a user's hand can be drawn into a gap between the transport rollers and the opposing members without hitting against the transport rollers. Thus, the disk can be smoothly transported into the disk drive.
A disk is not necessarily inserted into the opening from a position aligned with a central part of the opening along its width. In some cases, a disk may be inserted into the opening from a position deviating from the central part of the opening in a first direction along the width of the opening. The disk drive disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-135106 is configured such that one of the two rotary arms causes switching of the switch SW2, the other one of the two rotary arms causes switching of the switch SW3, and the transport rollers are caused to start rotating when at least one of the switches SW2 and SW3 is switched on. If a disk is inserted from any position, the transport rollers can be caused to start rotating in the loading direction before the disk comes into contact with the transport rollers.
When a disk is unloaded, the transport rollers need to be stopped in a state where the trailing part of the disk located at an ejection position is sandwiched between the transport rollers and the opposing members. This prevents the disk from falling out of the disk drive before the disk is pulled out by a user's hand.
As described above, a position at which a disk actuates the switch for detecting insertion of the disk needs to differ from a position at which the disk actuates the switch for detecting ejection of the disk. The disk drive disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-135106 accordingly includes the two switches SW2 and SW3 for detecting insertion and the single switch SW1 for detecting ejection. The three switches are arranged in order to detect insertion and ejection. This arrangement needs many parts and accordingly results in an increase in the number of steps of assembly adjustment, leading to an increase in assembly cost.
If a pair of rotary arms (a first rotary arm and a second rotary arm) rotating independently of each other are configured such that the first rotary arm causes switching of the switch SW2 for detecting insertion and the second rotary arm causes switching of the switch SW1 for detecting ejection, the number of switches can be reduced. In this case, if a disk is inserted from a position close to the second rotary arm, the disk will come into contact with the transport rollers but the first rotary arm will not be rotated sufficiently and accordingly will fail to switch on the switch SW2. Unfortunately, the transport rollers will not start to rotate.
In this case, if a coupling mechanism is disposed between the first and second rotary arms in order to achieve synchronous rotation of the rotary arms, the switch SW2 can be switched on in response to rotation of the first rotary arm or the second rotary arm, thus rotating the transport rollers in the loading direction. Disadvantageously, a coupling mechanism having a complicated structure is needed, thus allowing a disk drive to have a complicated configuration, which leads to an increase in manufacturing cost.